Following an exciting first round, we break down the favorite picks, most pleasant and biggest surprises, most under-appreciated pick, worst move and more.
Peyton Manning, Mario Williams, Mike Wallace and Carl Nicks headline an intriguing free agent class that can shift the balance of power this offseason.
The Eagles seemingly came out of nowhere to sign Nnamdi Asomugha as they eye a trip to the Super Bowl.
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Thumbs Up To the Saints offensive line. The Saints annihilated the Cowboys in a variety of ways, from Reggie Bush?s speed to Drew Brees? pinpoint accuracy to the perfectly timed and executed onside kick, but it all starts upfront. Dallas relies heavily on generating a pass rush to help their woefully inept safeties in pass coverage, but they sacked Brees just once and recorded pressures on just 3 of his 38 attempts. LT Jammal Brown dominated the vaunted DeMarcus Ware, and C Jeff Faine consistently got into the linebackers and make good seal blocks. Rookie RG Jahri Evans deserves All-Rookie status as well.
To Artose Pinner. Let go by the lowly Lions, Pinner took full advantage of his shot at vengeance Sunday. In rushing for a career best 125 yards and scoring 3 TDs, he helped keep the Vikings very much alive for a playoff spot while spitting on the grave of the team that gave up on him. The same team that registered -3 yards rushing Sunday and is now 2-11.
Thumbs Down
To NFL officials. I witnessed two of the worst officiated games I?ve seen in a long time on Sunday. Referee Bill Caruthers looked genuinely lost out there and made two review calls that were laughably incorrect. The Sunday night game was worse. When Al Michaels and John Madden are openly making jokes about how bad the officials are performing, that?s really not a good sign. Perhaps it?s just the dog days of the season for the zebras, but if they don?t improve the jackals are only going to get worse.
To the Carolina Panthers. After a 6-2 run to spring their season back to life, the Panthers have now dropped 3 in a row. A great deal of the blame falls to key injuries, as they were missing 8 season-opening starters in this week?s loss. But that?s not an excuse for a team with as much talent as the Panthers still have to play flat and drop 3 consecutive winnable games in a playoff push. It?s looking very much like a lost season for a team many touted as a Super Bowl rep from the inferior NFC.
Thumbs Twiddling
To Miami and Arizona. Both teams were expecting much better seasons than where they?re at, but both have been playing very good football lately. Miami has vaulted from 1-6 to 6-7 and thoroughly dominated the Patriots. Since Joey Harrington took over at QB, the Dolphins are 6-4 with wins over KC, undefeated at the time Chicago, and now New England. Arizona has very quietly won 3 of 4 since an 8-game bender that will probably cost Coach Dennis Green his job. Their OL is finally coming together, as prized free agent Edge James has consecutive 100-yard efforts, and the pass defense is making more plays. Late season runs are great, but it makes you wonder why these teams played so awful in September and October.
To ESPN?s Sunday Morning Show. I know he?s not the cup of tea of a lot of people, but I still really like Chris Berman as the host. Most of us on the message board here at RealGM revere analyst Ron Jaworski, and their in-depth feature pieces by Pam Oliver and Shelley Smith are top-notch. Yet the powers that be at ESPN inexplicably still haven?t canned racist blowhard Michael Irvin, who offers nothing intelligible in terms of analysis or entertainment. The other two showmen, Tom Jackson and Mike Ditka, offer the occasional salient points but more oft than not just keep yelling louder to argue with Irvin and Jaws.
Thumbs Sucking
To contenders laying giant eggs. Indianapolis has dropped 3 of 4 and just allowed two 100-yard rushers in the first half, and 3 runners to get at least 70 yards in a game, just the 4th time that?s happened in the Super Bowl era. New England barely escaped a lousy Lions team last week, and got shut out by the Dolphins this week. Tom Brady has not looked good, and their lines are losing the battles at the line of scrimmage. Dallas got bombarded at home by New Orleans by a 42-17 score that doesn?t come close to showing the domination by the Saints. Seattle was surging and once again resembling last year?s Super Bowl entrant, but they dropped (quite literally) a sloppy game to the last-place Cardinals. The Chiefs and Broncos, the wild card leaders just three weeks ago, have both dropped two in a row and dropped out of controlling their own playoff fates. In a year where the Super Bowl is as wide open as ever, to see so many good teams playing so poorly down the stretch is discouraging.
To the NFL Network. Note to new NFL Commish Roger Goodell: your bluff has been called, and it?s time to muck your hand. The NFL?s blatant attempt to strong-arm higher rates and concessions from cable providers has not gone well for the NFL, or more importantly for NFL fans. Even some cable companies that carry the NFL Network refuse to air the Thursday night games as a sign of protest, while most of the rest of America cannot watch the games at all. For a league which established itself as the #1 sport thanks in large part to television, it?s time to remember that TV also has the power to destroy. An extra thumbs down to Bryant Gumbel as the play by play man, simply dreadful performance by one of my sports media idols.
